Effects of Cursor Orientation and Required Precision on Positioning Movements on Computer Screens

Abstract

Arrowhead cursors used within graphic-user interfaces include implicit directional cues that may not be compatible with desired axis of motion. In addition, arrowhead cursors may not afford the best cues for location, and such effects may be exacerbated when there is a greater need for precise cursor placement. To address the impact of the cursor's orientation on its positioning, 12 participants were required to move cursors (pointing arrows) leftward or rightward to targets (small, medium, or large) on a computer screen. Response latencies were influenced by compatibilities between movement direction and cursor shape but only when moderate levels of precision were required. Rightward movements were slower and less accurate, and movements were slower and less efficient when arrows pointed in compatible directions. Implicit directional cues only elicited compatibility effects with moderate precision requirements. Arrowhead cursors compatible with direction of motion led to slower cursor movements and less efficient cursor trajectories. Where response initiation is important, compatible arrowheads are beneficial, but if speed of cursor placement is an issue, an orientation neutral cursor with area effect might be preferable, or a more direct interface (e.g., touch-sensitive screen) might be more appropriate.

Comparing cursor orientations for mouse, pointer, and pen interaction

“…Our experimental design differs substantially from the protocol used in the Phillips, Meehan and Triggs study, although our study could be considered to be an extension of their work [22]. Their study focused on determining the presence or absence of S-R compatibility effects with different cursor orientations.…”

“…Very little work has been done to assess the impact of varying cursor orientations, although an experiment by Phillips, Meehan, and Triggs has directly evaluated the impact of cursor orientation on mouse positioning movements for desktop displays [22]. They found that the directional cues provided by a mouse cursor could induce performance differences.…”

Design and evaluation of 3D cursors and motion parallax for the exploration of desktop virtual environments

“…For example, the cursor might turn into a pointing hand if it is over an hyper-link or into a typewriter cursor if it is inside an editable text area. However, although there are several studies on 2D cursor shapes [20,21], they are only focused on 2D content.…”

A kinematic analysis of directional effects on mouse control

“…However, the time-varying characteristics of the cursor trajectory can be revealed by analysing the kinematic variables of the trajectory. The results of such study may provide an understanding of the factors limiting cursor placement (Phillips, Meehan, and Triggs 2003) and indicate what role planning cursor movements, creating terminal guidance, resolving mismatches between display and control coordinate systems, moving cursors across the screen or gauging screen distances (Dillen, Phillips, and Meehan 2005) might play in the problem.…”

“…First, the kinematic features of the directional effects were only determined along the main axis of movement (Dillen, Phillips, and Meehan 2005;Donker and Reitsma 2007a;Phillips, Meehan, and Triggs 2003;Meehan 2001, 2005). This dimensional reduction may be valid when the angle of approach is not considered as an individual factor.…”